Denis, Dave, and I stopped at Tom Beatty’s and at Ramsey Canyon briefly on our way home yesterday. We didn’t find any real rarities at the feeders, though you didn’t hear any of us complaining about Blue-throated, Magnificent, and White-eared Hummingbirds! It was good practice for me, with a Hummingbird Workshop coming up in a [...]

I joined Denis and Dave for a scouting expedition to Carr Canyon yesterday, the destination for a trip Dave is leading next week. With temperatures here in Tucson still above 100, it was a great chance to get up to a cooler elevation and to see some mountain birds.

The canyon is as awe-inspiring as the [...]

I’ve always been eager to rush the season, but right now in southeast Arizona, with the temperatures holding in the low 100s and the monsoon rains still just a cloudy promise in the south, I cling to any sign of approaching autumn.
Happily, those signs are increasing. Yesterday morning I got up early to meet my [...]

It’s a great time of year for reptiles here in the Sonoran desert, and every birdwalk turns up a few. Yesterday morning in Catalina State Park, it was the big Canyon Spotted Whiptails that caught our attention; unfortunately, these beautifully marked lizards are also shy, and so I wasn’t able to get any photos.
The zebra-tailed [...]

It’s been hot here lately, and with the approach of the monsoon season the humidity is rising, too. But the last two nights have seen violent winds, thunder and lightning, even a drop or two of rain, and there can be no doubt that by this time next week we will be into our “second [...]